Musical content is delivered by music providers to listeners in a variety of ways. Songs are broadcast via radio, transmitted over the Internet as streaming data or audio files, played over telephone networks while on hold, played in elevators and other public places, played using music devices, such as jukeboxes and MP3 players, and the like. In general, the goal of music providers is to increase listenership by increasing the time-spent-listening (TSL) or the number of listeners. As the listenership increases, so can the benefit to the music provider. For example, a music provider with a higher level of listenership for a certain time period can generally charge more to broadcast advertiser's commercials during that time period than can a music provider with a lower level of listenership. Accordingly, music providers have developed various ways to develop listenership.
One way used by music providers to increase the number of listeners or the TSL for the average listener is to limit the type of songs provided. For example, radio broadcasters often broadcast only songs of a certain genre, such as country-western, rap, alternative, rock, and the like. However, this can result in a decrease in the number of listeners or the TSL since an increased focus may cause those listeners who enjoy a broader variety of songs to listen to other radio broadcasters who offer a broader variety. Likewise, the number of songs that fit a certain genre may be limited, resulting in a limited library from which to select songs for broadcast. As a result, the same songs are played over and over, generally causing listeners to change radio stations as they grow tired of listening to the same songs repeatedly.
Music providers, rather than focusing the type of songs provided, sometimes broaden the types of songs provided. For example, radio broadcasters often use radio formats that play songs from a number of decades or that broadcast songs from a variety of genres. While this may increase the number of potential listeners since a wide variety of tastes are represented, listeners, in general, have limited patience when listening to songs of a genre that is not appealing to the listener. For example, it has been estimated that the average listener will tolerate an unappealing song for around 60 to 90 seconds. Since most songs are over 90 seconds in length, this could indicate that the average listener is likely to “tune in” to another radio station before the unappealing song is finished. As a result, listeners may choose to listen to other radio stations having a more focused genre, resulting in a decrease in listenership for the music provider.
One generally effective method of increasing listenership is for a music provider to play an increased number of songs per hour compared to other music providers. The increased number of songs played appeals to listeners since they are able to listen to more songs. Additionally, since an increased number of songs per hour are played and it is generally undesirable to repeatedly play the same songs, the music provider must include a greater number and/or a wider variety of songs in its library. However, by playing more songs per hour, the music provider generally has less time to air advertisements, decreasing the advertising revenue of the music provider.
Accordingly, music providers have developed ways to edit songs. Disk jockeys, for example, will often omit the intro and/or the outro of a song to shorten it. However, this has a number of drawbacks. Often, songs will have an intro and/or outro of an insignificant length, limiting the amount by which the song can be shortened using conventional methods. Additionally, the intro and/or outro may be the most identifiable part of the song, (i.e. the hook), and may cause listener dissatisfaction if removed or shortened.
Given these limitations, as discussed, it is apparent that conventional methods of increasing listenership are less than perfect.